When All Seems Lost
by lw falls
Summary: When Dipper and Mabel receive a tip about the location of the author, they decide to investigate, but is there something much more sinister going on?
1. Chapter 1

Dipper awoke from a nightmare with a start; beads of sweat that had converged under his eyes now went tumbling down his chin. He'd dreamt that Bill Cipher, the demon triangle that had tried to kill him numerous times, had somehow entered his mind and was driving him insane. Upon slapping himself multiple times in the face he discovered that, in fact, it was only a dream.

He slowly scanned the room until his eyes fixed upon his twin sister, Mabel , the slow and steady rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was still asleep. In Mabel's arms, she clutched her still sleeping pet pig, waddles. Dipper shuddered, the thought of his sister sleeping with a pig made him cringe.

Groggily, he sifted his legs and got out of bed. He figured he'd use this temporary moment of privacy to change from his pajamas to his regular ensemble, red tee, blue vest, pine tree cap, socks, and running shoes.

Now fully awake, he walked downstairs. He decided to let Mabel sleep, after all, today was a big day.

Earlier that month the twins had received an anonymous tip about the location of the author of the Journals, and today was the day that he and Mabel decided to check it out. Since they would be going farther into the woods than ever before, they'd opted not to tell any body about it. They'd simply told Gruncle Stan that they would be going to the town pool

Dipper was halfway into his second chocolate chip pancake when Mabel came bounding down the stairs. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail so as to not fall in her eyes. She was wearing hiking boots and a specially knitted camouflage sweater with a forest green shirt underneath, and pilot shades that she'd stolen from Stan.

"When is the estimated departure time?" She asked, with an obvious tone of excitement.

"Approximately 30 minutes." Dipper replied in a whisper.

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence to prevent someone from overhearing what they were about to do

Their plan was to steal a golf cart and drive it as far as possible to their destination.

30 minutes passed and Dipper and Mabel got up from their chairs and grabbed a video camera and a lantern as went out the door.

On the way to their destination, Dipper was unable to contain his excitement. He gushed to Mabel about how they were finally going to meet the author or at least find out what happened to him. It took them a few minutes, but when they finally reached the area, Mabel took out the video camera and began filming.

"Hello and welcome to Dipper's guide to the unexplained," he said to the camera. "I am joined here by my sister Mabel, and today we are finally going to uncover the mystery as to who wrote the journal!" he said, unable to suppress the smile on his face. "A few weeks ago I received an anonym-"

"Glad you could make it, twerp." Said a familiar voice from behind him, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come."

Robbie stepped out of the trees from behind Mabel. He was wearing his familiar jacket, now with rips and holes all over it. His pants had been ripped off at the knee, and his toes were sticking out of his shoes. He had scratches, bruises, and scars all over the visible parts of his body and he had a crazed and slightly yellow look in his eyes. He was also carrying a baseball bat.

"Robbie, what are you doing here?" Dipper asked, Robbie's appearance obviously frightened him.

Haven't you figured it out yet?" Robbie asked sinisterly.

The twins hadn't noticed it until know but when Robbie spoke, it sounded as if two voices were speaking, one higher than the other.

"Figured what out? We just came here to find the author"

"It's all a fake! I planted that tip to lure you here!"

"What, why?"

"I want revenge for separating me and Wendy." He said angrily

Wendy had told the Pines of how desperate Robbie had gotten when trying to get back together, one night she swore she saw Robbie standing outside her bedroom window. Robbie later disappeared and no one had seen him until now.

Dipper and Mabel stood staring at the broken teen, Mabel, still filming. It was clear to the siblings that Robbie had gone insane without Wendy.

Just then, Robbie charged at Dipper! Mabel jumped in Robbie's way, he swung at Mabel. She tried to hop away, but the bat caught her left side and sent her tumbling. He then continued running at Dipper, who tried to outrun him, but Robbie was abnormally fast. Just before Robbie hit, he tucked in his arm and struck Dipper eith his elbow, sending him flying. Robbie went and stood over Dipper, hefting the bat high in the air. The last thing Dipper heard was the sharp crack of the bat and the horrified scream from his sister that pierced the morning air.

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><p><strong>Thank You So Much for reading my story. constructive criticism is welcome, and appreciated. New Chapters every week. Working on a new, Halloween special FanFiction. Don't worry though, will not interfere with this one. will be releasing the first chapter on Wednesday, October 1.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

Mabel floored the gas of the stolen cart, desperate to reach the Mystery Shack. The tears poured out of her eyes, making it hard for her to see where she was going. Her shirt clung to her skin like glue, because of the blood from the stab wound she'd received.

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><p>Upon impact with Dipper's head, the bat split in two, the end with the handle now had jagged splinters of wood protruding from it. Since Dipper lay seemingly dead on the ground, Robbie focused his attention on Mabel. She was now carrying a large rock she'd picked up when Robbie was attacking Dipper. Suddenly, Robbie charged.<p>

Mabel, her side aching from where the bat made contact earlier, hefted the rock high. Just before the two collided, Robbie raised his makeshift dagger, and Mabel brought the rock down hard.

She screamed in agony as the weapon pierced her side, but she still managed to deliver a staggering blow to Robbie with the rock. Robbie's body went limp against Mabel. Barely able to support his weight, she threw him to the ground. Blood sprouted from his forehead where the rock had hit him.

Mabel fell to her knees as she gripped the handle of the bat embedded in her side. Slowly, painfully and with many yelps of pain she extracted the bat, next she took off her sweater and tied it around the wound to stop the bleeding, and limped slowly over to Dipper.

A large red welt now sat on her brother's forehead as hey lay motionless in the grass. Mabel nearly broke down in tears at the sight of her once giddy and excited twin.

_No, not now, _she thought as she dragged him over and loaded him in the cart.

The duo then hastily made way back to The Shack.

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><p>Mabel threw open the door to the shack, desperately calling for Stan.<p>

Upon hearing the urgency in his great niece's voice, Stan rushed downstairs. He arrived just in time to catch Mabel, who'd fainted from blood loss.

Stan looked out the open door, wondering where the heck Dipper was, when he saw him slumped over in the passenger seat of the stolen cart. He ran to his car with Mabel in his arms and put her in the seat, he then did the same for Dipper. He rushed them to the hospital, ignoring speed limits, and the police cars behind him.

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><p><strong>Alright guys, that was chapter two, please let me know what you think by reviewing, it really helps me know whether you like this or not.<strong>

**Fall Break woot! woot! All chapter updates moved to Saturday because of school, sorry.**

**Go check out my other FanFiction, The Blindeye. And I will see you guys next time**

**New Chapter on: October 11**


	3. Chapter 3

In just two weeks, Mabel had made a full recovery. However, the doctors informed the family that Dipper had slipped into a coma.

The twins' parents often visited their children in the hospital. They were furious with Stan for letting this happen on his watch, and angrily proclaimed that this would be the last summer that the kids spent with Stan, despite numerous pleas from Mabel.

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><p>"Hey bro-bro,"said Mabel to the comatose Dipper, "Look what I made ya"<p>

She pulled out a blue and white sweater with a pine tree in its center.

"'thought you might like it," She whispered quietly, "Mom and Dad want to take us away…" She said, her voice wavering, "But I don't want to go" She finished, burying her face in her hands.

Sobbing, she stood up and fell to her knees at Dipper's bedside.

"Please wake up Dipper," she said through her sobs, "I need you…Please…"

Dipper lay motionless on the bed, Mabel, desperate, angry, and frustrated pounded her fists on her knees before letting out a sorrowful wail and burying her face in Dipper's chest, her shoulders heaving with sobs.

Mabel did not notice the world draining of its color through her tear filled eyes until the triangular form of Bill Cipher hovered above her brother's limp body.

"Well well well, what has ole Pine Tree gotten himself into now, Shooting Star?" The dream demon said, spinning his cane.

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><p><strong>Short chapter is short. Please review, also tell me if you like the update schedule, if you like it, i wont change it, if you don't, i will. Go check out my other fanfiction, The Blindeye, and vote there for my new fanfiction! Thanks for reading, see you next time!<strong>

**Next Chapter(Date can change):October 18.**


	4. Chapter 4

Mabel jumped and took a step back, Bill laughed.

"Relax, kid, I'm not after you."

"What do you want , Bill?" Mabel asked angrily

"Alright, Mabel listen," he said in a serious tone. "I understand how hard this must be for you, I know what you're going through," he finished, gesturing towards Dipper

Mabel looked away from Bill, _How could he possibly know what I'm going throught_, she thought. She tried to stop them, but the tears and sorrow quickly overpowered her resolve.

"But, you don't have to, I can save him."

Mabel froze and looked up at him, if he had a mouth he'd be smirking. Mabel knew of the dream demon's power, she'd experienced it firsthand, but could he really bring back the person she loved the most, or was this just some elaborate trick to break her more than she already is?

"All I want in return is a little favor," his eye glinted sinisterly when he said the words, he was _insane._

Bill had backed her into a corner, it was either do what he wanted, or watch her brother die

"How do I know I can trust you?" Mabel asked

The demon chuckled

"You don't" he replied

What Mabel didn't know, is that the triangle really wasn't trying to trick her, he just wanted to see how far he could push her, and still get what he wants. In reality, the demon needed the twins. He has big plans coming, and he needs people like them to carry them out.

"What do you want anyway?" Mabel asked.

"All I want is your brother's journal" he waved his hand, and the six-fingered insignia of journal #3 hovered above it, encased in blue fire.

Mabel thought for a second, she knew how important that journal was, and of the secrets it held, but at this moment her brother was more important.

"What do ya' say?" he asked extending a hand clad in blue fire.

Mabel clasped Bill's extended hand, the blue fire spread to hers and they shook, the deal was sealed.

"Alright shooting star, here's what's going to happen." Bill said, I cant interfere with Dipper directly since he's battling his own demons, if they found out I was there, They'd force me out instantaneously, and I wouldn't be able to re enter," he paused, "but what I can do is this: I can point him in the right direction to lead him out, but it's gonna take some time, so I going to need you to buy me as much of it as possible."

"Got it," said Mabel

"However, before I do anything, I want that journal. Go get it, then bring it back here. Until then, I'll be waiting." He finished

The demon clapped his hands together over his hat and disappeared.

Mabel felt like her body was turning to lead, she fell to her knees, and started falling to the right, but blacked out before her head hit the ground.

Mabel woke up, pulling her head off of Dipper's now drool soaked shirt.

The tiny spark of hope in her had now blossomed into a raging fire. She looked back at her brother resting on the bed, with hope filling her eyes. She was going to get him back, all she needed to do was give Bill the journal!

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><p><strong>So sorry for not updating when i said i would, I had a lot going on that day, so guess what i'm doing now, writing four chapters...in one sitting *sigh* I'm gonna be here all night. Please review<strong>

**Next Chapter: Sometime within the next 5 hours :)**


	5. Chapter 5

A half hour after Mabel's encounter with Bill, Stan came to take her back to the Shack. They rode home in silence, the forest of Gravity Falls whizzing past them until they reached home. Mabel was headed for the attic bedroom when Stan called for her.

"Mabel, we need to talk." He said solemnly

Mabel followed Stan into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"look uhh…" he started, "I'm sorry kiddo, but your parents don't trust me to take care of you anymore," Stan looked away, "they're coming here tomorrow, you're going to stay with them at a motel nearby until next week-" Stan froze, he didn't mean to say that.

"Wha- next week!? What happens next week?" Mabel asked. Stan wouldn't meet her eyes.

_Next week, what's so significant about next week? _She thought to herself.

A sense of dread came over her. Fear and realization blossomed in her chest.

"No…" she said, chocking back sobs. "no no no no NO! He only has a week!" she shouted.

"I-I'm sorry Mabel but there's nothing we can do," he said tearing up, "The doctors said his chances of waking up are very slim, and we can't afford to keep him alive for more than a week."

"What! Can't afford it!" she screamed hysterically.

"Mabel please-"

"Shut up!" she snapped, "I bet you don't even care, do you? Your nephew is dying on a table, and you're just going to sit back and watch!" and with that, she burst into uncontrollable sobs and ran to the attic.

Stan cupped his face in his hands and cried.

Mabel threw herself on her bed, she felt guilty about what she'd said to Stan, she didn't mean it, but it felt good to finally release the frustration and anger that had built inside her.

She waited on her bed until her pillow was thoroughly soaked in tears, and until she calmed down.

_A week, _she thought, _I hope that leaves Bill enough time_

She got up and crossed the room to Dipper's empty bed. His pine tree cap rested on the pillows. She picked it up and looked at it thoughtfully. Her expression hardened.

"Don't worry, Dipper," she said aloud with renewed determination, "I _will_ get you back"

She put the cap on and began to search for the journal. It took her a while, but she finally found it under the sheets of his bed. She turned the book over and over in her hands.

"This better work," she whispered to herself.

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><p>The next day, when they visited Dipper, Mabel, still wearing his cap, asked for a moment alone. When everyone left, she pulled out the journal. There was a flash of white, and all the colors changed to muted grays and blacks. Bill appeared, hovering over Dipper.<p>

"well, well, well, " he said, " glad you could make it, Shooting Star, though I'll admit, you took longer than I expected, I mean, we only have a week to do this."

_How did he know we only have a week,_ she thought.

"Remember, kid, all-knowing,' he said, as if reading her thoughts, "Oh and I like the hat on you, what should I call you know, Shooting Pine, or Pine Star," he mused, his eye widened, "Oh, definitely NOT that one, 'sounds way too close too something else."

"Bill!" Mabel yelled, "focus," she felt weird telling a demon what to do.

"Oh right," he looked glad to be pulled from his thoughts, "now how about you hand that book over so we can get things started." Bill outstretched his hand, and Mabel handed him the journal. Bill laughed.

"Perfect!" He said

Mabel watched as the book erupted in blue fire, turning to ash. Bill didn't really destroy the journal, he merely ripped it from this dimension, but the twins wouldn't know that. After all, if Bill was going to wake the kid up, he didn't need him catching on to what he was doing, and trying to stop him.

"Now where were we?" Bill asked, it was so easy to get lost in thought sometimes.

"Saving Dipper." Mabel reminded him.

"Ah right, right," he said as he hovered toward Dipper, he placed a hand on Dipper's forehead and lifted the other high in the air, he then mumbled some incantation, and the dream demon vanished in a flash of light into Dipper's mind.

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><p><strong>I have so many other things that I should be doing right now, but this is more important, also, my hands are tired. Please review, and go check out my other fanfic, and also, vote there for my next fanfic. Thank You!<strong>

**Society of the Blindeye is almost here, I can't wait!**

**Next Chapter: Sometime next week, I promise**


	6. Chapter 6

The door to Dipper's hospital room swung open, the light from the hallway illuminating the room. The shadowy figure of Pacifica Northwest entered, and closed the door behind her.

The moon outside shone through the thin white curtains on the window, providing some light.

Pacifica had to come here at night to avoid being caught by her parents.

Pacifica noticed something moving out of the corner of her eye, and discovered that it was Mabel, sleeping softly in the chair by Dipper's bed, clutching his beloved hat in her hands.

Pacifica refocused her attention to the reason she was her, Dipper.

When Pacifica had first seen Dipper, it was at a party at the Mystery Shack, the one where Mabel challenged her for the party crown. Dipper had been fawning over some red haired girl that was way out of his league. Pacifica thought his antics were kind of cute, in a way, she thought _he_ was kind of cute. Then she remembered who he was related to, and those feelings died.

Her feelings were quickly resurrected however, at the fair where she'd won that chicken. She spotted him at some ball game, trying to impress the same red haired girl from before. Pacifica laughed out loud when the ball came back and hit the girl in the eye, and that was when her feelings evolved from just thinking he was cute, to a petty crush.

This really conflicted Pacifica, she was the most popular girl in town, boys were supposed to develop feelings for her, not the other way around, that and Dipper was among the most poor and unpopular in town, and a brother to her archenemy.

When Dipper saved her from the golf ball monsters by expertly driving the cart away, that was when Pacifica fell hard.

She tried as hard as she could, but could not get Dipper out of her mind.

When she heard the rumors of what went down in the forest, she had to see for herself. This wasn't the first time she'd visited Dipper in the hospital.

She looked down at her crush, knowing that the chances of him having feelings for her were as slim as his chances of survival. He might die, not knowing her feelings for him.

Pacifica let a tear fall down her check, and reached out to touch Dipper's arm.

When her hand made contact with his wrist, it twitched violently, and his heart rate spiked.

His sudden movement made Pacifica jump, and remove her hand.

She sighed and looked hopelessly at her crush

"Please wake up," she whispered, this was one problem that money could not solve.

With that, the girl's feelings were confirmed, and she left the room. Unbeknownst to her, Mabel saw the whole thing through one slightly opened eye.

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><p><strong>I had 3 different plots for this chapter: 1, will become ch 7, 2, this one, 3, Mabel's POV.<strong>

**There are several reasons why I added Dipcifica rather than getting on with the main plot. This adds a lot more pressure if Bill fails, and I feel it adds more to the story.**

**Why did I choose Pacifica? Because she is one of the few girls Dipper has interacted with. there is Candy, Grenda, and Wendy too, but Wendy doesn't have these feelings, and Candy and Grenda don't talk to Dipper much at all.**

**Pacifica and Dipper's relationship won't be touched upon again until much later, so don't worry. If Dipcifica isn't your thing please don't be offended, just know that I respect your opinion, and I would ask that you respect mine too.**

**Thanks for reading, please review.**

**Next Chapter: Sometime next week.**


	7. Chapter 7

Dipper didn't feel anything for a long time. Consciousness came back slowly, first starting at his feet, which he felt were still concealed in shoes and clad in socks, and then to his legs and upward. At the spot between his shorts and socks, he felt the point of sharp pine needles burrowing into his skin, and dirt, which, obviously, meant he was outside. Before he was fully awake though his ears began to work, and he heard a slightly familiar feminine voice, though extremely muted.

"Flip her, Flip her!" The familiar voice yelled over and over again.

_Who is this person, and why do we need to flip her?_ Dipper thought to himself, try as he might he could not find an answer to any of these questions, he also could not figure out who it was that was yelling at him to flip the poor girl, whoever it was that needed flipping it was apparent that they needed it now. He knew the speaker was someone he knew well, his mom? No, Wendy? No, his sister wait, did he even have a sister, he couldn't remember, though if he did he liked to think her name would've started with an M.

_M_ thought Dipper, _M, Ma, Mab-_

"Dip her!" the voice shouted, slightly clearer.

Then everything came into sharper focus, he could hear birds chirping, the wind, and also the incessant shouting of his sister.

"Dipper!"

"Mabel!" he shouted, sitting up and opening his eyes, they were under a pine tree at the edge of a clearing; a golf cart parked a few feet away. His puffy eyed sister sat on her knees beside him, with a look of relief on her face.

After taking in his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was that he was in pain, and a lot of it. He moved his knee to his head and rested his head on it. The pain in his forehead threatened to make him black out again, absolute agony were the only words that could describe it. It felt as if someone had taken a full power swing with a baseball bat at it.

Dipper moaned and began to hyperventilate. Mabel, in an effort to calm him down, took his head and placed it on her knees and began stroking her fingers through his hair.

They sat there for a few minutes together, Mabel occasionally saying words of comfort to her brother, and he had finally calmed down a bit, and his pain descended into an uncomfortable headache.

"W-where are we?" Dipper asked in a rough whisper.

"I'm not sure exactly, you brought me along on a mystery hunt for the author, remember?" Mabel replied

Dipper grunted, he did remember that now, but not why he was on the forest floor in pain.

"What happened?" he inquired.

"I-I, uh, I'm not sure, I only remember getting out of the cart, and, and…" She started to cry a little, why couldn't she remember?

"And then you were on the ground, and you wouldn't move, I tried to wake you up but I couldn't, and I, I, I thought you were dead," she stammered before burying her head in her arms.

Dipper came over and wrapped his arms around her in a hug and held her. Mabel began to sob.

"It's okay, Mabel, I'm here now, it's okay, we're okay," Dipper said, it was his turn to comfort now.

He held her until she stopped crying and looked up at him, taking in his now tear soaked shirt.

"Sorry," she said.

Dipper looked down at her and smiled, "Don't worry, I have other shirts."

Dipper looked at the sky and saw that the sun was almost directly overhead.

"We should start heading back, Stan will be wondering where we are," he looked back at Mabel, "we tell no one about this, okay?"

Mabel looked back at Dipper and smiled, "It'll be our little secret."

They both climbed into the cart and headed home, occasionally speaking, but they both just wanted to be home.

When they stepped into the Mystery Shack, their favorite relative was their to greet them.

"So how was the pool," Grunkle Stan asked.

Dipper was a bit confused at the question,_ Pool? I didn't go to a pool, _Then he remembered that that was their lie they'd made up to sneak out so early. Still, he was confused as to why Stan bought the lie so easily, nobody goes to a pool that early in the morning, and Stan id a professional con man, he should've been able to see through their lie like glass.

"Oh it was great, water was nice and refreshing," Dipper lied.

Stan looked at him skeptically.

"Alright," He said without give much thought to the kid's painfully obvious lie,_ Man, I've got a lot to teach this kid_, thought the con man.

The rest of the day was pretty normal, despite the twins acting very gloomy, the various workers of the Mystery Shack tried to cheer them up, but it was no use. Mabel though, figured out a way to fix her sad mood, which involved getting super high on many packages of Smile Dip, it worked too, she offered Dipper some, but he politely declined saying, "If you eat any more of those you're going to die," and, "Those were banned for a reason," and, after she had consumed many packages, "Mabel, stop trying to eat my hat," and, "No, the toilet bowl is not filled with unicorn tears, you're going to get a disease," to all of these Mabel replied in a dazed groan, "You're not the *hiccup* boss of me, I can do what I want," then she would proceed to grab the nearest item to her, and try to eat it. She had to be locked in the attic because she kept biting the customers.

Dipper completed his variety of chores in the Shack, also doing Mabel's because she was currently incapacitated, before crashing on the couch after the Shack closed, and flipping through the channels on the Gravity Falls public access TV eventually stopping to watch a few episodes of a Ducktective marathon. Between each episode he would think, _Who comes up with this garbage?_

The events of the day inevitably hit him with a wall fatigue around 8 o' clock, at which time he bid everyone a good night and headed for the attic. He opened the door to find Mabel sleeping on her bed with a half eaten piece of cardboard in her mouth and some random items strewn about the room that Mabel had either tried to eat or break. Luckily though his journal managed to survive the attack and was found safely on his bed. Dipper sat down and flipped through the pages, eventually landing on Bill's page. Something about it was different though, he carefully scrutinized the pages until he found it, the words, "Not even her," were added to, "Trust no one," Dipper chastised himself for not noticing it before. Though he thought it strange that he hadn't seen it until now, he'd read that page at least a hundred times before. _Who could the author be referring to? Perhaps a wife? Maybe a close friend? _Dipper thought before letting out a very long yawn.

"Eh, I'll figure it out in the morning," he said to himself, before changing into his PJ's and getting into bed, "goodnight, Mabel," he finished while turning off his bedside lamp.

Mabel mumbled something along the lines of, "Goodnight," "Why," and, "Never again."

The frustrated dream demon grumbled somewhere far away, _How could he be so ignorant? I made the signs so obvious?_

Dipper interpreted the message as being written by the author, he should've realized the message was written recently, and written for him. The person referenced in the message wasn't the author's wife, it was Mabel.

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><p><strong>Yes! How's that for redemption? Longest chapter in the story! Woohoo! I would like to apologize for the shortness of the previous chapter, and also the nonsense of it. Don't worry though, something good will come out of it. <strong>

**So it would appear that this chapter deserves some clarification. This, is in Dipper's mind. What happened in this chapter didn't happen in real life, but Dipper doesn't know he's in the hospital in a coma, he thinks he's still awake.**

**STORY ALERT! I am putting this story on vacation, so I can iron out the plot more. Don't worry though, I WILL continue this.**

**Thank you so much for reading, it means a lot to me. please review, I'll see you next time!**

**Next Chapter: sometime next week.  
><strong>


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